1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs print processing while causing an inspection apparatus to perform inspection processing, a method for controlling the printing apparatus, and a storage medium
2. Description of the Related Art
An inspection apparatus is conventionally used to check whether a printed product is correctly printed. More specifically, the inspection apparatus scans a printed product while it is conveyed along a predetermined path and determines whether the printed product is correctly printed based on a scan image. For example, an inspection system can be employed to inspect print results in an integrated manner. An in-line inspection printing system is conventionally used as a system operable in synchronization with a printing apparatus and capable of stopping the printing apparatus if a printed product is not correctly printed.
A printing system referred to as Variable Data Printing/Variable Data Publishing (VDP) is conventionally known. For example, the VDP system is usable to print direct mails by changing a part of contents to be printed according to each client or member.
In general, the VDP system performs printing by reading out variable information (e.g., address or the like) from a database and inserting the readout information in a layout prepared beforehand. For example, in some cases, the data to be inserted is limited to the address information only. In other cases, the data to be inserted may require a change of an image content included in the layout or paper to be used according to client or member information. Thus, the number of pages is variable depending on each client or member. In general, a VDP print job is a single job including many records.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-65447, the conventional in-line inspection system detects the presence of a duplicate part, any lack, or white paper in a printed page by comparing a scan image of the printed page with a plurality of electronic original documents and requests reprinting when any error is detected.
Further, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-75634, it is conventionally known to generate variable print data including an error record automatically for reprint processing in the VDP print. Thus, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-75634 is usable to reprint only a record that includes an error page.
However, replacing only an error page with a correct one after completing the printing of a job entirely is a very difficult or complicated work regardless of the type (e.g., in-line or off-line) of the inspection system.
For example, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-65447, reprinting is requested if an error is detected. However, the original printing is continued without any change. Therefore, it is difficult to find out an error page from a printed product.
Further, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-75634, only an error record can be reprinted and therefore the replacement of records can be performed easily on a record-by-record basis. However, the method may not be so efficient because it takes a significant time to identify the position of the error record in the entire print result. In any method, if an operator makes a basic operational mistake, many pages or records may be printed erroneously while the entire printing operation is continued. Therefore, papers and toners are consumed uselessly.